Mud mixer



Feb. 6, 1951 c, w, MURPHY 2,540,540

MUD MIXER Filed Jan. 11, 1949 g f g w 1 40 I o /2 i /6 l6 l6 58 62 I I8 20 58 62 /8 Fig.3 I. 34

i In ventor 3 Clifford W. Murphy WWW mg:

Patented Feb. 6, 195 1 UNITED STATE s PATENT OFFICE 4i MUD MIXER Clifford W. Murphy, dessa,'Tex.

Application January 11, 1949, Serial No. 70,245

5 Claims.

mounted by suitable cross braces l6 upon the upper surface of a pair of parallel spaced skids or runners l8 which are rigidly connected together as by cross rods 20, to thereby form a sled for rendering the device portable.-

The upper end of the mixing chamber In is provided with a cover 22, upon which may be Another important object of this invention is to I provide an improved agitating and mixing disk for a mud mixer, together with improved control means cooperating With the disk for controllably delivering mixed mud at a predetermined rate to'a mud nozzle.

These, together with various ancillary features and objects of the invention which will later become apparent as the following description proceeds, are attained by this device, a preferred embodiment of which has been illustrated by Way of example only in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view, parts being broken away, of the preferred embodiment of I the invention Figure 2 is a transverse vertical sectional view of the device of Figure 1 showing the mixing hopper in end elevational view from the right;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary vertical transverse sectional detail view taken u on an e iarged scale through the lower portion of the mixing chamher, and showing the construction and journal of the agitator disk and its bearing means together with the arrangement of the mud nozzle and is taken substantially upon the plane of the section line 3--3 of Figure 4;

Figure 4 is a horizontal sectional view taken substantially upon the plane of the section line 4-4'of Figure 3; and,

Figure 5 is a fragmentary detail view, taken on vertical section substantially upon the plane of the section line 5-5 of Figure i and illustrating the arrangement of the agitating and mixing fins of the'agitator disk. I

ll'teferring now more specifically to the accompainying' drawings, wherein like numerals design nate-similar parts throughout the various views, c

it will be seen that the numeral [5 indicates generally a mixing chamber having cylindrical side walls whose lower portions as indicated at [2 are of a conical configuration and being open at the I bottom, are welded orotherwise rigidly secured to--'a -supporting platform 14'.- The- -latteris suitably mounted an electric motor 24 constituting a driving means for the mixer.

The armature of this motor is connected as by a detachable coupling 26 and its suitable reduction gearing indicated generally by the casing 28, to a vertically disposed agitator shaft 30 which is journalled as at 32 in the cover 22. l

The gear casing 28 may be conveniently supported upon a bracket or the like 34 from the cover 22. An opening 35 is formed in the cylindrical casing I0 adjacent the upper end thereof as shown in Figure 2, and as will be seen from Figures 1 and 2, this opening is provided with laterally extending guiding flanges or side walls 38 between which extendsa suitable table 40 sup ported as by pillars or columns 42. Upon this table and adjacent the opening 36, there is provided a rigid knife 44 extending upwardly therefrom, whereby bags of mixing mud may be placed upon the platform 40, and being drawn between the guides 38 and through the opening 36 into the mixing chamber Ill, will be ripped by the knife whereby their contents may be readily discharged.

As above mentioned, the lower end of the conical portion 12 of the mixing chamber is open, and is welded or otherwise secured to the sup porting platform 14. At a suitable location, this platform [4 within the confines of the conical having an elongated slot "indicated generally by the numeral 52 in Figure 3, while a clamping nut? and bolt 54 extend through the slot and thereby secure the plate to the undersurface of the platform I4. 1 It'will thus beseen that the plate may be "slid ably adjusted upon the-under surface of the 'pl atform l4, whereby the end of the plate may be dis posed in such a manner as to throttle or control the discharge opening 46.- It is preferred to form the end -ofthe plate-witha-Veshaped notch indi l cated at 56 in dotted lines in Figure 4, which V-shaped notch is adapted to register with the opening 46 for throttling the same.

Suitably secured to and depending from the platform I4 and spaced beneath its under surface, is a pipe or housing 58 forming a mud jet nozzle, this housing having an opening 60 in its upper surface forming a mud inlet opening which is disposed beneath and in registry with the discharge opening 46-.

Thus, as mud from the mixing chamber, preferably in dry form, is fed through the discharge. opening 46 into the inlet opening 60 of the nozzle 58, in a manner set forth hereinafter, the same is picked up by a water injection nozzle 62, and delivered from the outer end of the jet nozzle 58 into the mud pit of the drilling rig. As willibe understood, the water nozzle 62 will carry the mud deposited into the nozzle 58 and mix the same during its passage therethrough.

An i'r'nproved'means is provided for mixing, agitating and dispensing the mud from the mixing chamber into the discharge opening. For this purpose, a mixing or agitating disk 64 is provided, this disk being welded or otherwise rigidly connected with an axially and upwardly extending sleeve 66 provided with a socket 68 at its upper extremity for the reception of the end of the agitator shaft 35, a set screw i being provided for securing the sleeve and the agitator disk to the shaft.

Circumferentially disposed about the disk 64 are a plurality of ports 12, which are positioned for sequential and selective registry with the discharge opening 48 during rotation of the disk by the shaft 34. Preferably these ports l2'are formed by having a portion of the material of a. disk struck or deflected upwardly to provide a fin or blade 14 which is positioned. adjacent the rotationally advanced edge of the opening 12 to constitute a baffie or deflector therefor. Preferably this upwardly extending fin is smoothly curvedv backwardly and over the leading edge of the port 32' so that the material received in the mixing chamber will. fiow thereover and into the port F2 for discharge therefrom into the. inlet opening 60 through the discharge port 45.

This fin thus serves to mix and agitate the dry mud powders received in the mixing chamber and feed the same into the port 52.

A guide and journalling means is provided for facilitating the operation and efficiency of the agitator disk. For this purpose, a cup-shaped bearing cage is secured in any suitable manner to. the undersurface of the platform [4, and receives therein a bearing block or member #8 provided with a central opening which rotatably and guidingly receives the end 8!! of a spindle 82 whose upperend is detachably secured in a socket in the lower end of a sleeve 66 as by a set screw 84. This spindle is provided with a thrust bearing in the. form of a collar 85 which rests upon the bearing block '58, and thereby transmits the weight: of the disk 64 thereto.

-It will thus be seen that the agitating disk 65 isjsupported and guided by a bearing assembly disposed beneath the supporting platform l4, while being rotated by the agitator shaft thereabove. If desired, a sealing member of any do.- sired construction indicated at 88 may be provided for closing; the upper end of the bearing cage 76 to prevent the entry of dirt'thereinto.

From the foregoing, the operation of the device will now be readily understood. Drilling mud,

preferabl in. theiomn 9f. bags powder are;

dumped into the mixing chamber 10 as above set forth, and are agitated by the rotating agitator or mixer disk 64. During this rotation, the fins 14 serve to agitate the mud and uniformly feed the same through the successively registering ports 12 with the discharge opening 46, whereby measured quantities of the mud are delivered into the intake port 60 of the mud jet nozzle.

From thence the dry mud is mixed with water into any desired consistency and discharged into the mud pit where the same is utilized in drilling operations in a conventional manner.

From the foregoing, the construction and operation of the device will be readily understood and further explanation thereof is believed to be unnecessary. However, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art after a consideration of the foregoing specification and accompanying drawings, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction shown and described, but all suitable modifications and equivalents may beresorted to falling within the scope of the appended claims.

Having described the invention, what is claimedas new is:

l. A drilling rig mud mixer comprising a supporting platform, a mixing chamber downwardly and inwardly tapered being open at its lower end and mounted on said platform, a vertical shaft journaled for rotation axially of said chamber. an agitator disk on said shaft at the lower end of said chamber forming a rotatable bottom therefor disposed closely adjacent but above said platform, a. discharge opening in said platform and.

ports in said disk for communication with said;

opening, fins on said disk rotationally in advance of said ports. and forming an obtuse angle with the disk, and means for rotating said shaft, said disk having a sleeve secured thereto and extending axially thereabove, means for securirm said sleeve to said shaft, a bearing mounted beneath said platform and means journaled in said bearing and engaging the sleeve to support the latter.

2. A drilling rig mud mixer comprising a supporting platform, a mixing chamber downwardly and inwardly tapered being open at its lower end and mounted on said platform, a vertical shaft journaled for rotation axially of said cham-- ber, an agitator disk on said shaft at the lower end of said chamber forming a rotatable bottom therefor disposed closely adjacent but above said. platform, a discharge opening in said platform. and ports in said disk for communication with said opening, a shutter beneath said platform forcontrolling said discharge opening, fins on said disk rotationally in advance of said ports, and.

means for rotating said, shaft, a nozzle spaced be.- neath said platform and having an upper mud inlet beneath. said discharge opening and a Water inlet at one end for receiving and spraying mud dropped into said mudinlet.

3. A drilling rig mudmixer comprising a supporting platform, a mixing chamber downwardly and inwardly tapered being open at its lower endv and mounted on said platform, a vertical shaft journaled for rotation axially of said chamber, an agitator disk on said shaft at the lower. end. of said chamber forming a rotatable bottom there- 1 for disposed closely adjacent but above said plat- A form, a discharge opening in said platform and 7 an obtuse angle with the andmeans for tating said shaft, said disk having a sleeve se cured thereto and extending axially thereabove, means for securing said sleeve to said shaft, a bearing mounted beneath said platform, said bearing comprising a cup-shaped cage supported on the undersurface of said platform, a bearing in said cage, a vertical spindle journaled for rotation in said bearing having a thrust collar resting on said bearing, said spindle being retained in the lower end of said sleeve.

4. A drilling rig mud mixer comprising a supporting platform, a mixing chamber downwardly and inwardly tapered being open at its lower end and mounted on said platform, a vertical shaft journaled for rotation axially of said chamber, an agitator disk on said shaft at the lower end of said chamber forming a rotatable bottom therefor disposed closely adjacent but above said platform, a discharge opening in said platform and ports in said disk for communication with said opening, fins on said disk rotationally in advance of said ports and forming'an obtuse angle with the disk, and means for rotating said shaft, a shutter beneath said platform for controlling said discharge opening and means for slidably adjusting said shutter to regulate said discharge opening, said discharge opening being circular, said shutter comprising a plate slidingly secured beneath said platform and a V-shaped notch in said plate adapted to register with said discharge opening.

5. A drilling rig mud mixer comprising a supporting platform, a mixing chamber downwardly and inwardly tapered being open at its lower end and mounted on said platform, a vertical shaft journaled for rotation axially of said chamber, an agitator on said shaft at the lower end of said chamber disposed closely adjacent but above said platform, a discharge opening in said platform, said agitator comprising a central, plate-like body, circumferentially spaced blades integral with and disposed radially outward of the central body, said blades being rotatable immediately above the discharge opening for communication of the spaces therebetween with the discharge opening, each of said blades including an upwardly inclined trailing portion that forms an obtuse angle with the plane of the central, plate-- like body, means for rotating said shaft, said central body having a sleeve secured thereto and extending axially thereabove, means for securing said sleeve to said shaft, a bearing mounted beneath said platform, said bearing comprising a cup-shaped cage supported on the under surface of said platform, a bearing in said cage, a vertical spindle journaled for rotation in said bearing having a thrust collar resting on said bearing, said spindle being retained in the lower end of said sleeve.

CLIFFORD W. MURPHY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

